A national horticulture recruitment campaign is currently being developed to recruit temporary workers from within this country, with the first steps of this initiative being taken this week, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has confirmed.
In a statement this morning, Tuesday, April 21, a spokesperson for the department said:
“This department is working with our colleagues in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Teagasc to develop a national horticulture recruitment campaign, to identify a large number of temporary workers in Ireland who can contribute to harvesting activities in Irish horticulture businesses.
The campaign is being timed to meet the demands for labour for the fruit harvest peaking in mid-May to mid-June and the vegetable harvest from mid-June.
The representative noted that the farmgate value of Irish-produced edible horticulture is just over €410 million, and employs nearly 6,000 people.
Temporary and seasonal workers are critical in bringing Irish-grown fruit and vegetables to our tables and homes, the spokesperson noted.
“However, the lack of seasonal labour is not a new issue that the Irish agriculture sector has had to contend with.”
The representative noted that growers have continued to pursue their historical sources of labour and eastern Europe, including the Balkan and Baltic regions, which “provide a valuable source of professional operators from an agrarian background”.
“The situation this year is being exacerbated by lower labour mobility on foot of Covid-19 transport and movement restrictions put in place by governments across Europe and beyond to mitigate the spread of the disease.
The department is aware that other countries are experiencing similar work shortages and have introduced measures to facilitate the entry of seasonal labour from other countries, as well as attempts to source labour from their domestic economies.
“A collaborative approach between the public agencies is currently underway with the first steps being rolled out this week.
“Teagasc is inviting growers to register their interest in participating in the recruitment campaign.
“Teagasc is facilitating horticultural producers to participate in the recruitment campaign by inputting details of available open positions for seasonal workers at: www.teagasc.ie/horticulture/seasonalworkers,” the spokesperson concluded.